Case into murder of three PKK-linked women in Paris dropped after suspect dies in hospital

BRUSSELS

The case into the murder of three female members linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been dropped in Paris following the death last month of the only suspect in the case. 

The case into the killing of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Lelya Şaylemez was dropped after the only arrested suspect, Ömer Güney, died on Dec. 17, 2016.

Cansız, Şaylemez and Doğan were murdered in an execution-style attack on Jan. 9, 2013, in Paris’ Kurdish Information Center as a new round of peace talks was launched between the Turkish government and Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the PKK. Güney, 34, was apprehended and arrested after the attack.

The failure to begin Güney’s trial over the past four years drew criticism from the lawyers of both sides. A hearing was scheduled between Jan. 23 and Feb. 24, but the condition of Güney, who had a brain tumor, deteriorated and he died in the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris on Dec. 17, 2016. 

Güney’s lawyer, Anne-Sophie Laguens, told journalists that Güney waited for the hearing in order to express himself, but “the point reached couldn’t satisfy anyone.” 

The lawyer of the complainants, Jean-Louis Malterre, said the case could be brought to the agenda in the upcoming days in a different way, adding that the fact that the only suspect died did not mean the case could be closed.